I'm not sure if everyone has picked this up yet but there was an update yesterday to enable damage repair on certain cars. The Mustang is one of the cars affected, the Corvette is not.
As a result there will be a slight change is how pit-stops work for the Mustang. This is how I
think it will work...
With one reset enabled, the Mustange will have a "fast repair" instead of a "fast tow" which is slightly different;-the pit crew can do "fast repairs," which they will do at the start of your pitstop in an instant before commencing the rest of your pitstop sequence if you have a "fast repair" available. The pit crew will do a "fast repair" if anything on the car needs any repair at all, and consumes an available fast repair. If you pit with a perfectly undamaged car, a fast repair will not be used up. When you have used up your available fast repairs for a race, the pit crew will only be able to repair the car in the normal, slow, not-100% fashion. This fast repair will fully fix anything that is broken on the car to brand new, and magically cool off anything that is overheated (so that your motor will not immediately re-explode). But your pit crew will still have to replace tires and add fuel as usual.
After the "fast repair" is used up you will still be able to pit for repairs in the Mustang;
- The pit crew can now try to repair a car that is damaged. Each car is unique in what can be repaired, how it is repaired, and how much it can be repaired, and how quickly it can be repaired. Generally any damaged component of a car will not be able to be repaired as good as 100% new, but the pit crew give it their best shot. Some parts of some cars are not repairable, for instance, carbon fiber components are typically not fixable once they break.
- Your pitstall information box will shows you the amount of time remaining for required and optional repairs. Required repairs are what repairs must be done to clear the Repairs Needed black flag and be allowed back onto the track. Work on required repairs is begun as various pit crew members finish their pitstop tasks and are free to begin working on your damage. You will not be allowed to exit your pit stall until required damage repairs are completed. Once they are completed the pit flagger will lift his lollipop and you may choose to drive away if you don't want to spend time working on optional repairs, but if you sit and wait, they will work on optional repairs for as long as you want to wait for. Just because you can drive away may not mean you should - if your car has severe damage it may be difficult to drive and off pace unless you spend time fixing it up, it is up to you to make that decision.
- Any penalties are served once all regular pitstop activities and required damage repair are completed, but before any optional damage begins repairing. The flagger guy will hold you in your stall until the penalty is served, then lift his lollipop and you may choose to drive away if you don't want to spend time working on optional repairs.
- If required repairs plus penalties will take more than 30 seconds, or if optional repairs will take more than 30 seconds, the pit crew will turn off the engine until the end of the pitstop so that engines won't blow up from overheating while idling for a long time. Pressing the accelerator or using the starter will tell the pit crew to turn the motor back on if you want to drive away during optional repairs, but they will keep turning the motor off if you leave it idling again.
There is also a new flag rule that you will need to be familiar with;- There is a new race control rule called the Repairs Needed rule. This rule will show a meatball black flag (a black flag with an orange circle in the middle) if race control has decided your car must pit for repairs - a smoking engine or some kind of leak will trigger a meatball. You must pit within 4 laps - INCLUDING caution laps - to have your car seen to or race control will disqualify you. Finishing the race while carrying the meatball black flag will not give any post race penalty, so it is feasible to limp a car to the finish if you're close enough to the end of the race. Race control will not issue a meatball black flag to a driver who is being shown the white flag, or after race is over.
- Your car will not be allowed to leave it's pitstall if the pit crew are not able to repair your car enough to pass black flaggable levels of damage. Your pit crew will tell you that they can't fix your car.